Daddy's Here
by prouvaires
Summary: Another response to PaNcAk3s' emotions challenge. If you fight your way through the darkness, you know your daddy's gonna be there for you. The 'Fear' challenge!


She shrunk down in the bed, all her nerves twitching. Kind of lame to be scared, but that didn't detract from the fear. She pulled the covers up to her chin, trying to distract herself by singing lullabies softly, but all the outside sounds were magnified greatly, so she couldn't concentrate. She knew it was just because of the dark and the fact that she was somewhere new, but it didn't really matter.

It was too much. Gathering her remaining shreds of courage, she jumped out of bed and grabbed up a jumper, scampering across the cabin and out into the night. Big mistake. The moon was out, so it was lighter, but it was full and she had plenty of scary stories in her head to keep her over-active imagination whirling. Her bare feet picked their way slowly over the leafy ground, trying to make as little noise as possible. She knew where she was headed, so she made her way purposely in that general direction. She made a whimpering noise as an animal called out in the woods behind her, and she sped up, occasionally stepping on a sharp rock and letting out a small protest of pain.

Her long hair fell over her young face as she watched where her feet went, sometimes glancing up to check she was still on the right path. She glanced over her shoulder from time to time, shaking a little, her pale face glowing softly in the moonlight. She seemed to be travelling agonisingly slowly, making little progress against the space between herself and her objective. Eventually, after what felt like an age, she gained the steps of the other cabin and knocked softly on the door, slipping inside.

"Daddy?"

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Shane was sitting on his bed in his pyjamas, strumming quietly on his guitar, unable to sleep. He was consumed with thoughts of Mitchie, wishing she had come with him and not gone to stay with her mom for three weeks. He found the chords he was playing shifting into 'Gotta Find You' without him realising it, so he added in the lyrics in a low voice. Then there came a soft knock on the door. He jumped, thinking maybe a child at the camp had gotten sick, but instead the door opened minutely and a small figure slipped inside. Her long, dark brown hair fell into her eyes, which were liquid, dark and huge against her pale, terrified face. Her pale pink lips were trembling slightly.

"Daddy?" she said with a hint of desperation. Shane smiled and put his guitar to one side, opening his arms for his daughter. She rushed into them, sobbing.

"I'm sorry I thought I was big, Daddy, and that I could stay with the big girls, but it's dark and I'm so scared." She buried her face in his chest, and he stroked her hair gently.

"That's alright, baby girl. Daddy's here, I'll look after you," he murmured quietly, lifting her up and climbing into the bed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling the covers up over them both. Her sobs abated, and she smiled radiantly up at him.

"T'anks, Dad," she said through a yawn, and Shane chuckled. He had known that she would come running to him in the middle of the night: despite what she thought, six was too young to be sleeping in a cabin with other people she didn't really know. She yawned again, and he tapped a finger on the end of her nose.

"Go to sleep now, baby."

She squirmed. "But, Daddy, I wanted to ask you - "

"Alayna Michaella Gray, go to sleep _now_." His voice brooked no argument, and she dutifully shut her eyes, a small crease between them. Shane smiled down at her petulant expression, then reached over to shut the light off and settled down, curling his body protectively about her and singing softly while she fell asleep.

"_Take good care of my baby,_

_Don't you ever let her cry._

_Just wrap your arms around her,_

_Paint a rainbow all about her,_

_Don't ever let her see a cloudy sky."_

When he finished, the worried line was gone and she slept with a big smile on her face. Shane's heart melted as it usually did when he saw like that: defenceless and vulnerable, with a smile similar to Mitchie's but more contained, and her hair twisted over the pillow like a liquid; fluid and shining in the moonlight. He pressed his face up against her small scalp and closed his eyes, breathing in her scent, determined to protect her from anything that scared her as long as he lived.

**So what did y'all think? I **_**like **_**Alayna's character, she's fun to write. I might put her in somewhere. Did I portray fear accurately? I was going to make her more scared, but she just kinda ended up cute and pathetic. Ah well. Leave a review, tell me what you thought!**


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